Winter Celebrations Worldwide

 

UK

Turkey with stuffing.

Christmas cake

Christmas Carols

Christmas Crackers containing a paper hat and a riddle and usually a tiny toy or puzzle.

Christmas Pudding

Mince Pies

On Fridays a Toastasters International Club, Online Dynamic, meets to practice speeches. I gave a speech about winter festivals around the world. I also gave this in person at HOD the evening before.

Ice Skating on artificial Outdoor Rinks

Pantomime

Santa's Grotto in Department Stores

TV family films such as The Sound of Music and American movie Home Alone, a slapstick comedy about a child who beats a couple of bungling would-be burglars.

USA

Candy Cane. Red and swhite spirals of sugar, resembling a shepherd's crook. They recall the story of the shepherds who, as the Christmas carol goes, watched their flocks by night.

Plum pudding (like Christmas pudding) is available all year, although more prolifically at Christmas.

Turkey is eaten for Thanksgivingso most Americans don't want to eat it again at Christmas.

BELIZE

Used to be called British Honduras and still has British traditions with an added Central American flavour.

Christmas carols played by steel bands.

Fairy lights on palm trees. (The lights are not installed by cranes but by local agile young men who climb the tree, sometimes hanging upside down as a stunt to amuse and astonish passers-by. 

FRANCE

Yule logs cakes with chocolate topping, recalling the tree trunks chopped up for fires giving light and heat in winter before we had electric lights and heating..

GERMANY

Stollen - a cake or soft sweet bread with sultanans, shaped like a log, with a rod of yellow marzipan horizontally down the centre. 

Marzipan is ground almonds mixed with fine sugar, bound together by liquid such as egg white?

ITALY and Roman Catholic churches

Nativity scenes in churches.

Panettone, a large dome shaped soft sweet dough bread. Nowadays you can buy it not only with traditioal luurious cut dandied peel and sultanas, but, instead chocolate chips, and fillings ingredients and numerous flavours. 

Italians claim it comes from Northern Italy, specifically Milan, and a specific bakery.

SPAIN

Panettone, same as Italy.

Songs such as Feliz Navidad.

VENEZUELA

Panettone.

USE SEASONAL EVENTS TO MAKE HOLIDAYS AND CLUB MEETINGS MORE EXCITING: SURPRISE COSTUMES, DECOR AND EVENTS - From Tennis With Strawberries to Hanukah and Kosher Factory Tours

Problem
Somebody in Singapore asked me to suggest how to spice things up at their meetings. This group, above, really got int the spirit of things at Xmas, all dressed in red or white or black, and given Santa hats by the organizers (or asked to each bring their own). You can see me, the blonde, top left. What a jolly group. Not just one person dressed as a Santa, but everybody. You ask everybody to dress the part, but keep a few spares from one year to the next for those who forget.

SPICE AND FOOD THEMES

I can spice up your meeting just by being there. Meanwhile, spice up by making:

 A potluck at every meeting, on a theme, and print out a flag, and add a quotation, 

Display a year plan, which you show every meeting of all the upcoming meetings themes and the flag and food to be featured. Note national holidays through the year, especially those of your members, Chinese, Indian, Malay, Indonesian, Spanish-Venezuelan, and so on, and have food potlucks asking everybody to bring suitable food.

I do not think knowing what food is coming spoils the surprise. It adds to the anticipation. Let people to plan for a potlucks weeks ahead. On Holidays and business trips they can look for and buy traditional foods. In foreign countries and second homes, they can check their attics for funny hats and t-shirts and traditional costumes.

MUSIC
If music be the food of love, said Shakespeare. One of the most entertaining meetings I went to was organised by the staff of Singapore Airlines. They had a song to suit every person who came up on stage. The birthday girls and boys had a happy birthday. The music suddenly blared out from a laptop, set off by a clicker, so the music started as the person approached the stage. You could have music by Nationality. For example, Spanish music, Indian music, Chinese Music. A couple who had got engaged could have Congratulations.

Ask each speaker what is their favourite football team. Their country. Their city.

MONTHLY EVENTS

AUGUST
August - PEACHES & POTLUCK PICNIC.
Peach month - failing all else, tinned peaches, but somebody can go to a wet market and use club funds to buy peaches or if generous just buy them to donate to the club. Divide leftovers up, for the committee as a reward or if enough offer to visitors to take home as a party bag gift.

Aug CLOWNS
1-7 International Clown week - adding humour to speeches -

AUG WATER
Water quality month 

AUG PICNICS
National picnic month - potluck picnic food at meeting; speech on picnic places in Singapore; mosquitos; humorous speech on picnic from an insect’s point of view, litter, compare a typical British picnic with a Chinese picnic and a Malay and an Indian picnic, ask two local shops what they think about picnics - you might get a supermarket suggesting food on special offer, a restaurant angry about people bringing their own food in and pointing out perfectly good place to eat in a local park, and another saying we are happy for people to bring in their own sandwiches so long as they buy one drink an hour.

SEASONAL EVENTS - PARK PICNIC - DISASTER STORY

I have a humorous story about a disaster picnic in the park organised in England by Harrovians Toastmasters. It rained. We ran to the shelter where we gave our speeches, until we were forced to leave when we were constantly interrupted by a drunk who wanted us to believe in Jesus, and his dog wanted to eat our sandwiches.

AUG 3-27 EDINBURGH FESTIVAL, SCOTLAND, COMEDY
Largest arts festival in the world. Comedy awards, and street theatre, and pay what you like 'free' pass the hat performances in pub meeting rooms.
NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL, LONDON, ENGLAND

September 24, 2018, Mid CHINESE MOONCAKES & Autumn Festival 

This is Chinese, Malay, Vietnamese, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Chinese restaurants worldwide and online. Don’t keep it a secret and a surprise - get everybody excited for a month in advance, researching and asking friends and family, for recipes, photos, stories. 

OCTOBER
October - AUTUMN COLOURS & HALLOWEEN Pumpkins

All month meetings and speeches on Hallowe’en giving people time to use the ideas elsewhere. Party shops and supermarkets sell loads of goods and multipacks. Lucky dip topics on spiders, pumpkins, ghosts.  USA teachers’ websites have inexpensive paper cut-outs of ghosts to cut out, or spiders to print, and recipes to share on your smartphone. Decorate the room.

31 Hallowe'en and carved pumpkins, apples and apple bobbing, ghost stories, ancestor stories. For the practical person, a speech on apple varieties: Cox, Granny Smith, Giant Japanese apples.

NOVEMBER

November - DIWALI LIGHTS

Nov 7 Diwali - the festival of light

November 10th 2018, Lord Mayors Show, London. See on TV.

Nov 11 Armistice Day UK, WWII.

DECEMBER

December - XMAS CAKE & HANUKAH

Dec 2-10 Jewish Hanukah - make a giant h a n u k i a h - eat Chanukah foods.

 https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-symbolic-foods-for-hanukkah-1808125 - One of the modern USA surprises on this website is cake or bun cut to reveal the blue pattern of six-point star or a spinning top called dreidl.
New Year's Eve, fireworks and Champagne.

Xmas - mince pies, Xmas cake, Xmas pudding, French y u l e log, German stollen, European carp, Xmas poems. The Toastmaster should be in a seasonal outfit, Xmas carols and Karoke. Write your own hymns and Xmas greetings. Plus, the essential food. A mystery Santa. Ask everybody to wear red, green, or white. Those who don't can choose a hat to wear.

Plan a year ahead.
JANUARY
New Year's DAY and New Year Resolutions and Beginnings.
New Year's Day concert from Vienna televised.
JAN 25. Burns night with a Burns supper, Haggis and neeps (turnips), and readings of Burns poetry. Wear your kilt or tartan.

FEBRUARY
Valentine's Day theme of love. Red hearts.

Valentine's day. All things heart-shaped, banners, table decorations, food, cakes, sandwiches, pancakes.

MARCH
St Patricks; everything Irish, Irish songs, the colour green. Talk and slides on celebrations around the world.

April EASTER eggs, chocolate, bunnies, and religious events.
(April 7 Saturday in 2019 Oxford and Cambridge Boat race, watched on TV by 15 million people, plus 250,000 last year in person along the riversides.
Easter Sunday in 2019.

MAY
May Day, May 1st.
As somebody said, Labour Day, a day celebrating workers when nobody does any work.


Here are the JUNE dates from 2018, update them for 2019 and later years:

JUN 2018

Battle of Waterloo re-enactment, Waterloo, Belgium.

Sand sculpture Ostend, Belgium.

17 Father’s Day UK.

Royal Ascot Ladies Day (horses and hats!)

Jun 21 Music festivals throughout France

28-30 Haro wine festival, Haro, Rioja, Spain.

JULY TENNIS
July 21, 2018, Longest Day.
 Wimbledon Tennis, London, England - traditional food is strawberries and cream.

HERE ARE THE DATES FROM 2018 - update from for 2019 and later years>

JUL 2018

Father’s Day and Ladies Day at Ascot - all in hats.

Photo of Father’s Day free drink offer from 2017 by Angela Lansbury.

Early July, one week in Pamplona, the capital of Navara, Spain, bulls in streets, 7-14 July in 2019, also Google search for: Pamplona Bulls, Spain.

1 Belgian Independence day, celebrated countrywide.

Ghent Festival, in Ghent, Belgium.

Bayreuth, Germany. Wagner festival. 25 July-29 Aug 2018.

Wimbledon Tennis.

Just for Laughs, comedy, Montreal

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

EVENTS
Some clubs have two seasonal parties, a summer outdoor picnic of barbecue, and a Christmas lunch or dinner in December, or in January after members are back from holidays and restaurant prices are down.

At least one Toastmasters club in Singapore organises one of two group holidays for members to a nearby country in Asia, visiting archaeological and historical sites. Singapore's Friends of the Museums does the same. So do the ex-pat associations which include American, British, Canadian, Japanese, Dutch.

You could also organise group visits to sporting events, such as football, rugby, cricket, Ascot (horse racing), tennis, golf, table tennis, Olympics, rowing races such as the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in England and the Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong (was in June in 2018).

ADD PHOTOS TO YOUR WEBSITE

Your Chengsan Toastmasters International 'meet our members' webpage has only one member, and no photos of them or anybody else. Add some photos. If you want to be incognito, wear a hat or mask or microphone in front of your face - not a good photo but anything is better than nothing, eg stand back view holding a map of the country you come from, or your national flag, or Toastmasters ribbon, or a group photo of the committee without saying who is who. Better still, list all the committee. 

USEFUL WEBSITES
visitbritain.org
visitengland.com
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/41527965 (You can see 2018 events, compare with 2017 to see what is recurrent in each month)
https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays

All good wishes from

Angela Lansbury ALB ACG

Secretary of Harrovians, London.

British and international themes for parties, clubs, tourists

From British Banbury cakes to Canadian maple syrup biscuits, there's always something new to try eating or making or buying.

By mid October people in the UK and worldwide are planning the dates and menus for Christmas and end of year parties. Many clubs are planning the calendar for the club's year ahead, which will be given out or announced at the end of the year party, before everybody disappears for Christmas holidays and New Year holidays, so they know when to be back for the January events.

We recently made Banbury cakes to use up leftover pastry. We just looked in our fruit bowl and fridge to see what we had and googled recipes. If you are booking or buying for a small British dinner party or large, themed party, consider supplying:

Eccles cake. Pic from Wikipedia.

British Food to buy, make, serve
A few ideas: Yorkshire pudding as a savoury with beef. Banbury cakes, Eccles cakes, parkins, Bakewell tart, Bakewell pudding. For Easter, hot cross buns. For Christmas, mince pies.


Sampling Wine and Mince Pies
In the UK restaurants and wine bars are already ordering in mince pies to be served as part of the menu or a free addition at the end of a meal or served with wine. Berry Brothers wine shop in central London, near Piccadilly Circus, they told me this week, has just ordered mince pies.

You might want to arrange an event with a theme for a club or group. For example, for a birthday.

Singapore's Hash Harriers Birthday Boy Choice
In Singapore the Hash House Harriers, a group of jungle running ex-pats, has runs set by somebody whose birthday is the same week or month. The birthday boy chooses the menu which is themed and with food from their home country, such as fish and chips from the UK, curries from India, Chinese food from China and so on. If somebody else of the same nationality had chosen your favourite food the previous week, you have to be more inventive. Its's all fun to introduce new things.

Singapore National Themes
In Singapore at meetings when there is no birthday person, they also hold a seasonal theme for national days. If you have a club, you could plan your year ahead with national days. You might hold your running circuit around a church or temple and/or hold the end of evening meal at a place such as Singapore Danish Seamen's Church.

Other ideas, a Russian orthodox church, a Chinese or Indian temple, a French language centre, a Japanese Club, a Polish centre.

If you can't organize a venue and a Chinese or Indian restaurant (usually plenty of those so it's easy to organize One of Singapore's lady's run nights ends at a Chinese restaurant. Chinese restaurants are a budget choice if people are all paying for themselves. I also went to a Chinese restaurant with a speakers' group in Hong Kong.

Christmas Potluck
At Harrovians (Toastmasters' International) Speakers Club we have a Christmas potluck party and most people bring along their own national food, savouries such as British cheeses, French cheeses, and desserts such as as mince pies from the UK. Stollen comes from Germany, with its marzipan centre.

Hanukah Food
At Harrovians we have had a seasonal December party, with Hanukah and Christmas foods. Hanukah foods include: Savouries: brisket (a cheap fatty cut of beef plus potato latkes (grated potato patties, fried, round or triangular, like Swiss Rosti which is made big and pan sized and cut into portions, and American hash browns which are individual portions). Sweet desserts: doughnuts (sufganiyot) are requirements. noodle kugel and, of course, latkes and doughnuts

Italian Pandoro
Last year, pandoro, (which I had seen and sampled find in Italian restaurants and cafes in London, England, as well as supermarkets), was brought, provided by a Venezuelan member. I learned that pandora is found, not just in Italy but, also Spanish speaking countries.

Why else would you serve British food, other national food, or multi-national food? To welcome somebody from the UK, or to organize a farewell party for a colleague going to the UK.

A themed party might attract visitors and involve helpers to raise money for charity, such as a fundraising tea, or a coffee morning. You could ask two or three people or the whole group to bring along to a potluck party a food from the UK.

A packet of biscuits from your home country would also be welcome at an event if you are given a lift (in America you would say, given a ride), or are invited to a free event.

A Canadian visitor to London, UK, gave our Harrovian Toastmasters group maple syrup biscuits. I was intrigued by the flavour, the shape, with the leaf pattern stamped on the top.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Xmas cakes round the world

UK Xmas cake is fruit cake with white icing like a wedding cake and a snow scene on top often with the words Merry Christmas and a small green non edible tree. The cake has a band or ribbon in contrasting colour, often green or with red and green.

Scotland Dundee cake, a heavy fruit cake containing alcohol with almonds on top.

France has their equivalent of our yule log called buche de Noel, chocolate icing on a roll-up cake (which in England we call a Swiss roll) imitating a wooden log, the sort you would have had in the fireplace to keep you warm in winter.

Italy panettone, a flat top half cone, rather like a brioche or sweet bread, with sultanas or similar scattered through.

Panettone will be more common in Italian restaurants or delicatessens in London.

Stollen, German long pale cake like a squashed Swiss roll, with icing on top and marzipan though the middle and some sultanas or candied fruits scattered through.

This picture shows a stollen with colourful candied peel in red and green. Picture from wikipedia article on stollen. You can also get stollen made with poppyseed. But my favourite is with marzipan.

This picture, also from the wikipedia article, shows the marzipan. Wikipedia pictures are amiable from their site with suitable captions, credits and more details.

(The other pictures on this post are Angela Lansbury copyright. Write to me if you want to use them.)

You can buy most of these cakes in most supermarkets in England and on line.

Here are some cakes made to order at Genuine Cakes of Hatch End. (See my previous post for more pictures and their address.)

Probably the cheapest Xmas treat for tea time or after lunch or dinner is the mince pie. You can get a set of six in Morrisons and many supermarkets at a range of prices, often for as little as £1.

Mince pie with star topping.

If you are planning to buy a Christmas cake to take overseas, check the use by date. One year I was planning to go to Singapore from London and shopped early. However, while waiting at checkout I read all the labels. The cake I planned to buy expired the date before my arrival in Singapore!

Free pizza, hot drinks and jelly babies Hatch End Thursday Dec 4 2014

Free pizza, hot drinks and jelly babies at Fellini Caffe in hatch End tomorrow afternoon, Thursday Dec 4 2014, after 4 pm when the Christmas Tree lighting takes place.

Here are the workers out in their lifting device to put the decorations on the tree and around the lamp posts. Bet you wondered how it was done, as I did.

That's how you get the fairy or angel or star on the top of the tree!

I saw a team of three vans out. You can just spot the orange lifter above the trees in the distance.

A brochure was delivered to nearby houses informing them of the tree lighting ceremony. Usually carol singers, a VIP, a collection for charity, free food given away by several shops. For example, mince pies at estate agents. In a previous year the tree lighting was done by Barry Cryer. This year it's a sporting hero.

See next post for pictures of Christmas cakes, Christmas trees and other shop window decorations and temptations.